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TheLake Group: Members Posts: 8 Joined: Aug. 2002 Posted: Aug. 23 2002, 07:46 1. How to combine Art and Commercial success (after a suggestion by TheMan). Mike, there is probably a pressure from the record company that your albums should be possible to sell (in some sense). So why not simply call all your albums for Tubular Bells? No, I'm not joking. I am n-o-t saying that you shall do versions on Tubular Bells over and over again. I am just suggesting a way of naming your albums. As TheMan suggested do the following:   - write good music in any way you like. Do not care if it can be sold or not, just focus on writing good music.   - Put some piano in the beginning, perhaps playing some distantly related TB theme.   - Ring the bell somewhere in the end (like you did in Amarok).   - Let the cover be the classical TB cover. Then   - The company can promote the music   - The fans can enjoy the music (new music having nothing to do with TB). Note that this recipe is similar to one in the classical world: Beethoven, Piano Sonatas 1,2,3,4,5 ... Bach: Brandenburg Concertos 1,2,3,4,5,6, ... Mahler, Symponie 1,2,3,4....Note also that these works are completely independent. Mike Oldfield, The Tubular Bells Concertos 1 - 10. 2. A unique way of producing an album. How about letting fans submitting there own musical material (what ever that might be) to some web-page, giving Mike the exclusive right to do what he wants with it? I am not saying that Mike needs help, I am just curious about what this might lead to. A very interesting experiment in my eyes, a Mike Oldfield album where he freely uses his fans thematic suggestions mixing it with his own ideas ... what an interactive way of doing an album! Giving Mike complete freedom could lead to a new milestone in music history. Think about it? Why not? What do you say Mike? Back to top

Wanderer Group: Members Posts: 119 Joined: Aug. 2002 Posted: Aug. 23 2002, 12:38 The fact of the matter is, I don't think Mike really cares that much about commercial success. If he did, he would be releasing a totally vocal album like "Earth Moving" - or else one of those half and half albums he did in the eighties : half songs aimed at the charts and half instrumental for the fans. Also, if he wanted commercial success he'd probably have the singing done by people who are actually stars in their own right so then he'd get some airplay. Kinda like what Santana did with "Supernatural". The fact of the matter is "Tres Lunas" is not a commercial album. It has ONE - I repeat, ONE - song on it, and that song isn't sung by a star. The rest of the album is relaxation music. You tell me the last time that relaxation music - instrumental relaxation music - has got into the charts and I might concede you have a point. Right now, here in Australia, the charts are dominated by Eminem, Nelly, DJ Sammy and Vanessa Carlton. "Tres Lunas" is NOT a commercial album, it WON'T get onto the charts and WOULDN'T get into the charts even if it did have a decent marketing campaign behind it. Be that as it may... Your suggestions are quite sound, it would result in some really kickass music! But it also seems to me like your suggesting he establish a pattern for himself. That's exactly what I don't want to here. I'm depressed that he is regurgitating "Tubular Bells" yet again, because that seems like such a blatant leap at commercial success. I don't like it when Mike repeats himself. I like it that one time he'll do an electronic album and follow it up with a celtic album. This unpredictability keeps me a fan. He does a different style with each album thus I keep on buyin' cause I know I'm not just getting what I got before....which is why I don't like it when one of these TB sequels/rehashes come out all the time.  It's the one glaring exception to the rule, and if he does feel the need to sequelize his stuff I don't think TB is his greatest work anyway. I don't understand! WHY MIKE! WHY! It strikes me that if he needed a quick meal ticket why not simply just do a soundtrack or live album - or raid his vault for B sides - or release a greatest hits compilation that for once actually contains HIS GREATEST HITS! God, I've gone off on a ranting tangent now haven't I? Oh well... In conclusion: Yes, you're ideas are great. But I want Mike to surprise me and I wouldn't care if he took a helicopter and dropped those bells into the mouth of an active volcano! Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: Aug. 23 2002, 21:51 Now why on earth would he want to do that?! I do agree that Mike is in no way going to get on the charts unless he does something really Earth Moving again (which I hope he dosen't ). I also agree that Mike's experimentation with different styles of music is the reason that Mike in the nineties is a lot more interesting than in the seventies/ eighties. This is, however, also part of the problem, as some very vocal fans seem to prefer a more constant style of seventies type music. Sure, there is going to be albums you don't like (I don't like Voyager) but on the whole Mike has done very well with all these different styles, and I don't want him to stop anytime soon. Having fans submit music would be an interesting idea, and would probably produce a cool album. It would, of course, be even cooler for the fans who submitted the music that got on the album (can you imagine what that would be like?! ). If we really think about it, Mike's albums, of what he currently is doing, won't sell very well to the mass market. His record company won't like that, so why dosen't Mike form his own record company? I know it would be kind of difficult, not to mention expensive, but then Mike wouldn't find himself being pressured to sell well, or find himself in another Richard Branson scenario.   If that dosen't work (which it probably won't) I don't think Mike is going to start naming all his albums Tubular Bells. It has already been said, but Mike dosen't care about commercial success, he just wants to do the music he wants to do. If we buy it, well that's just a bonus. As long as he keeps doing the music he wants to do, well I'll say good luck to him. -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

TheMan Group: Members Posts: 105 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Aug. 26 2002, 03:28 Concerning the first suggestion; this recipe certainly doesn't mean that Mike has to sound like in the 70s! Even if he would stick to TheLakes 'Guidelines' it wouldn't mean that the music at all would sound like in the 70s. The form has nothing to do with the sound. The form has nothing to do with the content. I certainly do not want Mike to stick to one sound, on the contrary, I agree with the comments above that Mike's unpredictability is one of his strengths. Furthermore, I certainly agree that Mike shall let TubularBells go now, I don't want to hear it again (after TB2003). Here TheLake and I are just talking about a naming strategy, enableing Mike to do what he want while keeping the company happy. Mike deserves commersial success after all his profound works, and if this can help him, then try it. (But don't touch the actual content of TB again! ) The second suggestion is a very interesting concept! A GREAT IDEA TheLake!!! Back to top

QE3 Group: Members Posts: 12 Joined: Aug. 2002 Posted: Aug. 26 2002, 08:01 a fan album is a really nice idea! hey, Oliver, how can we reach Mike and let him know about this idea? how do we know if Mike reads it? is it possible for tubular.net to promote the idea? think about it, to be able to influence Mike, and perhaps hear one's own contribution in some Mike version ... to finally being able to pay back for all those wonderful Mike moments ... I have a lot of instrumantals to share, and I feel the material is not so bad. some ideas are of Mike class (I really think so) but I was never a good musician nor good at developing the ideas. I also feel that this fan album should be more than just a collection of single tracks. I hope Mike reworks the ideas and mixes the fan themes in the style of Amarok or Tubular Bells II. Oliver, so where do we go from here? Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Aug. 26 2002, 18:05 You can contact Mike via the people at Dark Star - they will forward emails to him, and they do get read (I know that to be a fact - it's not just something they say). Bear in mind, however, that even if Mike likes an idea, it may not end up being acted on, for one reason or another. Mike and his team do look at this site from time to time, so it's also possible that ideas posted here will be seen by them. You may also find that they'll listen to tracks linked to in the fan tracks forum. However, I personally don't feel that the idea of fans contributing to an album of his is one that he'll want to take up. Mike is a very independent person who tends not to like working with other composers , and when he does want to, he seeks them out himself. It is of course possible that the work of his fans might have a positive influence on him (though I also think that if he solicited ideas, he'd have a huge amount of less than inspiring material to sift through), but I can't see him being willing to take this idea on board - it seems to me that he wants to work on his own music and not somebody else's. My suggestion would be that fans team up and work on the tracks together, without Mike. It's not an easy task by any means, but it'll come together if people are determined enough and it's far more likely to happen that way than by waiting for Mike to do it. Back to top

timshen Group: Members Posts: 684 Joined: Mar. 2001 Posted: Aug. 26 2002, 21:23 Many of us MO fans seem to desire like crazy for Mike to be recognised and commercially succesful. We all know the excellence of his music & playing and long for others to know that also. Not all commercially sucessful bands are musically good and become sucessful for many reasons - and that sucess does not, by a long shot, make these people any happier or more fulfilled people. Mike is having an OK life at the moment being a bit more low profile - maybe that's the way he wants it, just to make music that he loves and not really concerned with commercial 'sucess'. What is 'sucess' anyway? I suggest we stop craving for Mike to be more famous and just stick to listening to his music and enjoying the fabulous stuff he's created ! -------------- Expect Great Things. Attempt Great Things. Back to top

TheMan Group: Members Posts: 105 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Aug. 27 2002, 06:40 To some degree I agree with Korgskrew; Mike is independent and I don't think he will just re-record material from fans. And, for sure, I don't want that either. I see it more as a way of influencing Mike; and if he kind of likes some ideas I expect him to develop them in his own way. The fan contributions will probably be hard to detect on the final recording ... which makes the record even more interesting in my eyes! Go for it Mike! Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Aug. 30 2002, 15:16 I think the chances of fans influencing Mike Oldfield musicaly are monumentaly small. This is a man remember, who by his own emmision, never listens to anybody elses music (this is one of the few consistant things he has said in interviews and he always seems somewhat arrogantly proud of it). If he did listen to and take on board other peoples music I think things would improve greatly for him. I've often thought over the past decade Mike's narrow mindedness over music really is just backing him up an alley creatively. I fully realise In the past he was one of the first to incorporate different styles (such as African) into contemporary music and thats obviously where he took most of his creative energy from. Now though  I think he takes a very half hearted rather pedestrian stab at what he thinks or possibly what he is told by others is what is relevent to todays (young) music fans. If Mike had actually listened to what more creative people were doing in dance music (The Chemical Brothers, Leftfield, etc) when writing TBIII ie being clever with beats, textures, arrangemets and so on he could have made a credible stab at the genre, he used to be unsurpassed when it came to being clever with these things. His old mate Steve Hillage is after all highly respected in the dance world perhaps they should work together again.( actually they sort of did when System 7 remixed 'Women of Irland' not that this was great ) I dare say Mike listened to and even liked the 'Cafe Del Mar' cd's before doing TL, he seemed familiar with them. If you're not familiar with the 'Cafe Del Mar' compilations I really recomend them. There's quite a few now and you would probably recognise a lot of the music, its used a lot in adverts and TV shows. As I've said in other forums I think the problem with TL doesn't stem from the actuall music composed, a lot of it is nice enough chill out music. I think the problem stems from the way it was presented on cd and what was chosen to put on it in the first place. Back to top

TheMan Group: Members Posts: 105 Joined: July 2002 Posted: Sep. 04 2002, 10:00 I agree with TOBY. Mike would improve a lot in collaborating with people like those mentioned above. Back to top

TheLake Group: Members Posts: 8 Joined: Aug. 2002 Posted: Sep. 10 2002, 08:12 Yesterday I got a vision of how Amarok would have been like if Simon Phillips would have been involved. Don't get me wrong, I think Amarok is just great as it is, but Simon's spectacular aggressive playing would have made it even more wonderful! I am dreaming of this kind of record in the future; Mike doing something so intricate and subtile as Amarok, playing most of it himself but with some help of a few master musicians like Simon. God do I love the playing of Simon! What a technique, what a feeling for the musical content! Put on The Lake, The Wind Chimes, Crises or Music For The Balcony, play it loud, and just focus on the drumming. It is a hell of a playing! Combine this playing with those crazy, angry Amarokic Mike guitars and there will be another masterpiece. It won't sell, but it will be a milestone in music history. Back to top

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